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[John Sandoval]

At any rate, I found the sex scenes in the story to be more sweet/endearing than erotic/a turn-on.

It's softcore stuff.

It also makes me want to dip my hand in the genre. Not necessarily through visual novels, but a videogame about love (as opposed to lust) would be pretty cool. Something sweet.

(yes i am a big babby)

[Inanimate]

I played Emi and Rin.

Rin's story is... really engaging. It wasn't as much a romance as a visceral insight into what makes people tick. It was definitely one of the most interesting things I've read. Lots of drama and wisdom, a healthy mixture of tragedy and fortune, and a truly powerful final act. It was just stunning.

And Emi is just wonderful romance, and I'm always a sucker for romance.  

[TeeGee]

Hmm, since I'm a a visual novel developer these days, I think I'm obliged to reserve myself some time and play this. I'm turned off by the high school romance thing though. Why does 99% of VNs have to happen in high school? It's like the zombies of VNs.

[hanako]

There are a lot of articles on why the fixation with high school in dating games, but the simplest, shortest answer is... virgin fetish.

[TeeGee]

Is it really that common? I usually just attributed it to the Japanese pedigree of the genre. Like a tradition of sorts.

[John Sandoval]

Unfulfilled high school wishes.

Also, from a logistical perspective, it gives a good reason as to why these characters would be seeing/talking to each other on a daily basis.

[TeeGee]

That's kinda sad. From outsiders perspective, it paints the genre in a bit of negative light. Last year I played several visual novels, some were really fantastic, with deeply engaging stories. But I know I would probably dismiss at least a few of them as another high school drama before the good parts started, if not the obligation to see them through to the end as a part of doing research.

In any case, KS just finished downloading. Aside from the high school part, the premise seems interesting (if a bit weird), so I'm looking forward to it.

[John Sandoval]

That's kinda sad. From outsiders perspective, it paints the genre in a bit of negative light.

Yeah, it does tend to attract a certain sort of fanbase... as seen in Derek's link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grP6Z0tMmYM

Sometimes you just want to disassociate yourself from the work entirely.

[hanako]

Is it really that common? I usually just attributed it to the Japanese pedigree of the genre. Like a tradition of sorts.

Sure, that's part of why a lot of fangames use that setting. Also, a lot of the kids making the free english games are just that, kids - they don't KNOW any setting outside of school.  

But in romance-themed games particularly there are a lot of players who don't like the idea of their love interest having a past. And where is the best place to get a bunch of unrelated characters together who have no sexual experience and who have no lives to distract them from angsting about their romances 24/7?

Especially if you're marketing your game to people who are just barely out of that environment themselves (or still in it) and thinking about how much sex everyone else that isn't them is supposedly having, while fantasizing about how much better their lives could have been. Isn't that explicitly the plot of Shira Oka? "You completely sucked at high school, now do it again and become awesomely popular"?

Obviously this is not the entirety of VNs, even romantic ones; there are plenty of stories about all sorts of other things, and plenty of players who are SICK of school games and won't touch them. It's just the baseline entry-level dating plot.

[J. R. Hill]

I'm pretty sure that guy on the video is trolling and making fun of people that say "such-and-such" story was moving, etc.

I mean seriously, he calls Rin "my waifu"

[John Sandoval]

It's possible.

[Castle]

I hope with all my heart that you're right, Mr. Hill.

I mean, playing these games you can't help but feel affection for these characters. That's the point of the game. But! It's a game. I'd just as rather feel affection for a cup what allows me to hold water than a bunch of pixels what allows me to date a cripple.

[J. R. Hill]

Gave this a go and was surprised by how tasteful and insightful the story was.  Also, it was kind of a stark reminder to me of my own minor disability (some limited mobility due to a bone disease) which is something I don't typically think about or talk about unless I'm in pain,  I really want to do something outside of my ability, or someone asks me to do something I can't.  In which case I typically ignore the doctors' orders and put on a manly face and soldier on regardless lol.

Anyway, as others have said, the focus here is on slice-of-life storytelling, character development, and romance.

Also...  Ok this is hard to say guys...  But...  Lilly...  I love you Lilly...  *sob* ...Oh gosh you guys...
(sarcasm)

[FRET]

I wanted to court Misha. Why she gotta be so gay?

[Castle]

we all know emi's mom has got it going on